Chet Kapoor, Chairman and CEO of DataStax.
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Steve Jobs’ former intern has some sage advice for college graduates: Stop focusing on working for a big company and instead find the best people to work for.
Chet Kapoor, chairman and CEO of the generative artificial intelligence company DataStax, has had a stellar career in Silicon Valley.
The Kolkata-born technology leader started working at Steve Jobs’ software company NeXT in 1986 and later became CEO of API management company Apigee, which was acquired by Google in 2016 for $625 million. purchase price.
“I was one step below the guy who opened the door, but it didn’t matter because I worked 20 yards away from him every day,” Kapoor said in an interview with CNBC Make It about his experience as an intern at Jobs’ NeXT. .
Kapoor said his experience observing Jobs played a role in shaping his leadership style. “I can attribute a lot of my success to my first two or three years at NeXT,” he added.
That’s why he advises young college graduates to look for opportunities to work with great people they can learn from, rather than just applying to work at big, well-known companies.
“Find a way to hang out with the right people early in your career,” Kapoor told CNBC Make It.
“Titles, money, all of that will come because what you learn from them will help you have influence… The sooner you distance your work from your impact on the company, the more successful you will be.” .
“Pay them $50,000 a year”
Kapoor even recommends spending money to work with the right people, insisting that this early investment will pay off further down the road.
“This is what I would tell everyone coming out of college and looking for a job,” Kapoor said. “Find a group of people who you think you can learn from. Don’t worry about the title. Don’t worry about what company they’re at. Work. Make them believe they need you, then pay them $50,000 a year so you can work for them.”
“This will be the best $50,000 you’ll ever spend in your life. Certainly better than the college education you just funded,” he added.
Kapoor explained that the first few years of one’s career “determine your future” and that most young people are too focused on the brand they work for.
“People get hung up on the brands you worked for. ‘Oh, I worked at Google’ or ‘I worked at AWS.’ The point is: Who did you work with, and what did you learn from them?
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